Former England fast bowler Stuart Broad has called for fresh bowling ideas from the visitors in order to contain Australia’s star batter Travis Head for the remainder of the Ashes. After Head smashed a match-winning century in Perth, Broad believes England must rethink how they will handle the dashing left-hander, who opened the batting after Usman Khawaja suffered back spasms.
Speaking on Australian radio station SEN, Broad highlighted one important tactical change he believes England missed in the Perth Test, saying: “What they could have done when Travis Head was really going was to use their awareness and say, ‘Let’s get him off strike; let’s let him face one ball an over. It’s a clip off his hip, he gets one, and you don’t let him face four or five balls an over and hit a boundary in those.’”
The England legend said that slowing Head down would put pressure on his partner.
“And crucially, when you get him off strike, Marnus Labuschagne comes down to the facing end. You bowl dots at him and create pressure on him,” he said.
Broad reckons England will have to force Head into doing something out of the ordinary to dismiss him.
“Suddenly, you do that for forty minutes and Travis Head gets bored of taking a single, tries something outrageous and might get out.” Instead, he said, England allowed him to dominate. “You can’t just let him keep flaying it for hours on end and end up with 120-odd off 80-odd balls,” he warned.
Australia are currently leading the five-match series 1–0. The second Test, a pink-ball affair, will start on December 4 at the Gabba in Brisbane.
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